The PJM Interconnection Board May 17 approved nearly $2 billion in electric transmission upgrades that will maintain electric power supplies in the wake of plans to retire 14,000 MW of coal-fired generation between May 2012 and the end of 2015.

Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and BP Wind Energy will jointly develop the 21 MW Auwahi Wind farm in Hawaii.

ABB has completed the acquisition of Thomas & Betts, a Tennessee-based provider of low-voltage products.

Brazilian state-run power company Eletrobras Eletrosul says it will invest $615 million into new transmission projects to help meet power demands expected during the 2014 World Cup.

TAS Energy has been awarded a contract for a energy storage project at a new 1,300 MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in Virginia.

Purdue University officials on May 7 presented a Comprehensive Energy Master Plan (CEMP), which calls for $33.1 million to be used to demolish an old coal-burning boiler, convert another coal-burning boiler to natural gas, install a natural gas-fired combined heat and power unit, and increase steam distribution along Jischke Drive.

Eaton Corp. released its Blackout Tracker Annual Report for 2011, saying that California topped the list of states with the most outages in 2011, followed by Michigan and New York.

GE Energy’s Industrial Solutions business opened an electrical distribution product and service solutions manufacturing plant in Chile.

AES Gener and AES Energy Storage announced the commercial operation of the second energy storage project in Northern Chile, integrating 20 MW of advanced battery-based energy storage with a 544 MW thermal power plant.

GE’s Waukesha gas engines factory manufactured and recently delivered two, 1 MW cogeneration sets for the Forest County Potawatomi Community’s (FCPC) planned biogas combined heat and power (CHP) project in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley.

Siemens Energy said it has received its first order for the supply of its SGT-750 industrial gas turbine in North America.

The variable nature of renewable energy resources, such as wind power, poses challenges for an electric grid that has traditionally been powered by generating resources that are relatively stable and controllable.

Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) have released a report analyzing the September 2011 blackout that left 2.7 million customers in Southern California, Arizona and Baja, Calif. in the dark.

GE will supply six Jenbacher gas engines to a landfill gas-to-electricity power plant in Chile.

Ener-G Natural Power and Biogas Technology, both units of UK-based Ener-G Holdings Plc, completed a 3.2 MW landfill gas-to-electricity project in Mexico.

GE's Energy Storage business, a unit of GE Transportation, recently signed a Business Cooperation Agreement with Arista Power Inc. to jointly promote and market Arista's new Power on Demand System that will incorporate GE's new Durathon Batteries.

Constellation Energy, a business unit of Exelon, and the Middle Township Board of Education in New Jersey said they have completed a 1.5 MW (DC) solar power project for four Middle Township Public School District sites.

Capstone Turbine Corp. said it sold 30 more C65 microturbines to be used in the Eagle Ford shale play.

Capstone Turbine Corp. said it has sold a dual-mode C1000 power package to a Michigan hospital that will operate in a combined heat and power (CHP) application.

ABB has won $45 million worth of orders from Oncor to provide technology that will increase transmission capacity, stabilize the grid and help integrate renewable energy in Texas.

Acclaim Energy Advisors secured twenty years of electrical reliability for Clear Lake City Water Authority (CLCWA) by providing them with the service of nine 500 MW generators.

Xtreme Power Inc. signed an agreement with the Kodiak Electric Association to install a 3 MW power management and energy storage solution on its Pillar Mountain Wind Project in Alaska.

Capstone Turbine Corp. will sell a Capstone C1000 microturbine that will be installed in a combined heat and power plant in Singapore.

GE will provide an LM6000-PF Sprint aeroderivative gas turbine and related services to Enipower S.p.A. (Eni) for its Bolgiano district heating plant in Italy.

Brazil-based Cemig (NYSE: CIG) said it will invest 2.16 billion reais ($1.18 billion) in new electricity projects in 2012.

Combined heat and power (CHP) manufacturer 2G Cenergy Power Systems Technologies Inc. is planning to open a facility in Florida where it will produce the company’s advanced modular CHP conversion systems for North and South America.

Co-firing of woody biomass with coal is regarded as a cost‐effective way for coal‐fired power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed the first Clean Air Act standard for carbon pollution from new power plants.

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Dominion on March 29 said they will partner to use the VCU School of Engineering's West Hall as a five-year test site for energy efficient technologies and research as a micro-grid project.

Greenwood Energy, the North American renewable energy division of the Libra Group, said it will install a combined heat and power plant for the Millennium Hilton Hotel in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

GE said it will supply one natural gas-fired Jenbacher gas engine for a cogeneration plant in Dandenong, Victoria, Australia.

ABB dedicated the Canyon Power 69 kV GIS switchyard to the city of Anaheim, Calif.

The Babcock & Wilcox Co. said its subsidiary, Power Systems Operations Inc., has been awarded a 10-year contract valued at more than $40 million to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for Ebensburg Power Co.’s 50 MW power plant in Ebensburg, Pa.

Stockton CoGen Co., a 60 MW coal-fired power plant that has been operational in Stockton, Calif. since 1988, will be retired in a couple weeks.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a proposal from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) that aims to separate out and fix “minor” transmission reliability issues across the electric grid.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and Ameresco Inc. on March 12 said a new $795 million renewable energy fueled facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is now operational.

Entrepreneur Annette Verschuren will take the role of executive chair of NRStor Inc., a new company established to commercialize energy storage technologies.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has released a new proposal that addresses the oversupply issues that caused the curtailment of 350 MW of wind energy generation last spring.

The four new Aluminum Machined Levels – 4-Vial Aluminum Machined Torpedo Level (Model 400UM), 5-Vial Aluminum Machined Torpedo Level (Model 500UM), 5-Vial Aluminum Machined Laser Level (Model 800LMI), and U-Shape, V-Groove 10-Function Aluminum Machined Level (Model F-10) – are heavy duty and lightweight, making them able to stand up to tough job conditions, while remaining easy to carry.

Federal tax credits and state renewable portfolio standards have driven the utility market for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects during the past year.

FuelCell Energy Inc. signed a multi-yearservice agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE) to operate and maintain the 1.4 MW Direct FuelCell power plant previously purchased and located at California State University -- San Bernardino.

Capstone Turbine Corp. said it has received an order for the first 1 MW C1000 power package from an oil and gas producer in Southern California.

ABB won an order worth around $90 million from American Transmission Co. (ATC) to supply a power solution that will help control the flow of power and enhance grid stability in the state of Michigan.

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) has begun testing a new 1.5 MWh energy storage system at the 500 kW Doney Park solar power plant in Arizona.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and SunPower Corp. on Feb. 22 dedicated a 5.4 MW SunPower solar power system.

The anticipated 14 MW natural-gas fired combined heat and power plant will augment an existing coal-burning facility at a total cost of $81 million.

Capstone Turbine Corp. (Nasdaq:CPST) on Feb. 14 said it sold its first microturbine in the Philippines.

The solar PV system is the primary component of the energy savings performance contract to be implemented by the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc.

U.S. venture capital investment in renewable power and energy-efficiency technology declined 4.5 percent to $4.9 billion last year from 2010, according to an Ernst & Young LLP study.